First Post-Cert Dive

[unlikelyfish]

I went for my first dive since OW yesterday. It was very short but interesting and a good lesson in what can go wrong on a dive and that keeping your wits about you will usually get you out of it.

I went with a group led by a divemaster. There were 6 of us initially. I was the least experienced by far. We agreed that we would go to the small island and dive to about 60 feet. I was buddied with the divemaster.

I took the advice of TSandM and others about descending and it definitely helped. We reached about 35 feet and waited for the rest of the group. One buddy team never appeared so we surfaced. Turns out one of them had trouble equalizing. He decided to give it one more try. At that time I notice my tank is coming out of its strap so we adjust and tighten it. We descend again and once again meet at the bottom. The one guy still could not equalize so he called the dive and we proceeded as 2 buddy teams and a divemaster. This is about where things got interesting. My tank came loose from my bcd. In the process of getting that adjusted I also had trouble with my buoyancy as I was overweighted (and still not good at that), someone elses tank also came loose and between kicking up silt trying to get equipment sorted we realized oh **** we were at 90 feet. We thumbed the dive at that point. I couldnt hold the safety stop due to the buoyancy issues.

What I learned:

1. I was right to want to stick with diving with much more experienced people right now. At times we were in zero visibility and a crop of newly certed OWs may well have panicked.
2. Though Ive heard enough times, this really underlined the fact that panic is the major cause of accidents. Because everyone did stay calm, we were able to get the situation under control. I did notice the first signs of panic at one point but focused on my breathing and was able to control it.
3. I think we probably should have returned to shore after my tank came loose at the surface, if you have an equipment problem and are able to *solve* it, dont assume that its a permanent fix.
4. The importance of weigh checks. I had the same amount of weight as for my cert dives a few weeks ago so I didnt bother
5. It isnt nearly as hard as I thought to get to 90 feet :S

Though it would have been nice to have a relaxing, longer dive, in a lot of ways I am glad to have been initiated into dives that dont go so well.

 

[jddemtp]

That's good you recognized your anxiety and were able to overcome it. Hitchhiker's Guide hit it on the nose with its advice... DON'T PANIC. I had some anxiety my first post-class dive, too. Luckily I was with a good friend who has hundreds of dives under his belt and was willing to take it easy with me. Unfortunately we haven't been able to dive together since, but hopefully we will soon and he can see the difference a little bottom time has made

It stinks that your first dive didn't go well, but if you learn from it then not all is lost.

A couple tips that might help for next time:
- Spend some time getting your buoyancy figured out before attempting an actual dive. It's the biggest thing you can do to improve your diving and make it more effortless and enjoyable. Most of the time they overweight you in class to get you down, so it's not surprising that you were extremely heavy. Also, be aware of things that can affect your buoyancy, such as exposure suit and other equipment changes, air cylinder material, etc. Also, the deeper you go the more your suit compresses, so the more negative you are, so be aware of the effect of depth on buoyancy. You went 30 ft deeper than expected, so your buoyancy was different than it would have been if you'd stuck to your dive plan. And as you get down there your descent rate increases, so just make sure you put some air in your bc and control your descent rate. You don't want to end up a dirt dart. When you get in the water, if you hold a normal breath (it's ok to hold your breath just this once) with no air in your bcd, the waterline should be at eye level.

- If you have nylon straps on your bcd, wet them before you put your tank in. Nylon stretches when wet, so when you hit the water he tank can loosen up if you didn't wet the strap first or really crank down on it.

 

[spectrum]

I don't think that was quite the adventure we had in mind.

Diving in a pack is always challenging and with you being buddied with the dive master you got the short end of the stick.

For your next dive try to make it a 1:1 affair and keep it conservative in profile and final depth. I'm inclined to suggest making it SO conservative that you are comfortable doing it with a peer even if it has a max depth of 10 feet.

Repairing dive gear mid-dive is one thing. Re-securing a cylinder is not cause for ending the dive. The fact that several broke free suggest that divers (1) were way too vertical and (2) proper cylinder mounting needs review. One quick check is that the cam band should kick down with a click, snap or thud. If it just rolls over and plays dead you did not get a good pre-load on it. Also be sure to pat down the Velcro strap tail to prevent an inadvertent release. Getting the BC wet helps too.

It sounds like you got a good lesson in situational awareness. While breathing and focusing on a problem you can cover a lot of vertical distance and get into a lot of trouble. Weren't your ears alerting you to the drop?

Congratulation on recognizing the onset of panic and taking charge.

By all means get to the bottom of your weight configuration.

My definition of a good dive is one where nobody got hurt, all of the gear came back and you learned something. You did good.

Pete

 

[TSandM]

Glad the advice was useful.

I had tanks come loose on me several times when I was new. Eventually, I figured out how much the cambands had to be tensioned, and how to do it. It's not fun when you feel that tank sitting on your butt! A tank CAN be replaced and properly secured in the water, although it's a challenge to do it unless you're on the bottom.

I can completely understand how you ended up deep. The problem, when you're new, is that you don't have much bandwidth, and if you're focused on an equipment problem, you're going to miss the personal and environmental cues that signal your depth changes. It's as easy to end up going up (maybe easier) as down, and either can be hazardous. This is one reason why beginner dives are best done in places where there is a bottom, and the bottom is not at excessive depth.

But you survived without problems, and learned some lessons, one of which may have to do with selection of dive sites and companions

 

[unlikelyfish]

"Weren't your ears alerting you to the drop?"

There's an easy explanation for that. I'm not yet in tune enough to my body's responses to descent and ascent to recognize signs like that.

Practice Practice Practice.

 

[DivingsInMyBlood]

well thats something you can learn from at least. My first post cert dive i did went well i just corked and came up a wee bit too fast from 40 feet.